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• » 28 Mar 1942

• Lübeck suffered the first area saturation bombing as 234 bombers dropped incendiaries, destroying over 200 acres of the city. One British bomber equipped with the new GEE navigation system was lost and the GEE captured by the Germans. ww2dbase [TH]
• A second Japanese carrier fleet set sail for the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | CPC]
• German official Fritz Sauckel was named the Chief of Manpower, with responsibility of expediting the recruitment of slave labor. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Guam. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• USS Gar ended her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Gar | CPC]
• The US Marine Corps 7th Defense Battalion departed for Upolu, Western Samoa while a small Marine detachment was dispatched to Savai'i, Samoa. ww2dbase [CPC]
• A fresh regiment of the Japanese 56th Division attacked Chinese-defended city of Taungoo, Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi arrived at Ambon, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Akashi | CPC]
• In the morning, German submarine U-209 attacked Polish ship Tobruk of Allied convoy PQ-13 with all torpedoes missing the target; the convoy escorts counterattacked with depth charges with similar dismal results. Later in the day, German aircraft attacked the same convoy and sank British ship Empire Ranger and damaged Panamanian merchant ship Raceland (which would eventually sink at 2230 hours). In the evening, German destroyers Z24, Z25, and Z26 departed Kirkenes in far northern Norway to hunt for ships of the PQ-13; 61 of Empire Ranger's survivors were rescued by German destroyer Z24 at 2245 hours, but many other survivors died in the freezing water. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• British submarine Proteus sank Italian hospital ship Galilea 20 miles west of Greece; 991 were killed, 284 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]

• It was reported that the final lifeboat from Norwegian motor taker Charles Racine, sunk by Italian submarine Giuseppe Finzi on 10 Mar 1942, had been found by an Argentinian steamer en route to Trinidad. The tanker's first mate was among the survivors on this lifeboat. ww2dbase [HM]

• RMS Queen Mary arrived at Sydney, Australia and disembarked 8,400 troops. ww2dbase [Queen Mary | Sydney | CPC]

• Tenryu departed Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Tenryu | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Dutch Major General Roelof T. Overakker surrendered his 2,000 troops at Blangkedjeren, marking the end of resistance on Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Sumatra | Blangkedjeren, Sumatra | CPC]

• Executing Operation Chariot, British destroyer HMS Campbeltown sailed into the Loire River estuary near Saint-Nazaire, France with commandos on board at 0122 hours. She was detected and fired upon by coastal guns. Despite hits, she rammed into the dry dock at 0134 hours and unloaded commandos and other troops, who wrecked the dry dock, suffering 169 killed and 215 captured; 228 escaped via small vessels, leaving the explosives-laden HMS Campbeltown behind, which detonated at noon, killing 360. ww2dbase [Saint-Nazaire, Pays de la Loire | TH, CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru departed Kobe, Japan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Kobe, Hyogo | CPC]

• HMS Edinburgh arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Edinburgh | Scapa Flow | Scapa Flow, Scotland | CPC]

• Minoru Yasui deliberately broke the curfew in Portland, Oregon, United States by walking around the downtown area after 2000 hours. When a policean on the street refused to arrest him, he presented himself at a police station at 2300 hours, and was prompted charged with violating the curfew. ww2dbase [Minoru Yasui | Portland, Oregon | CPC]

28 Mar 1942 Interactive Map